As is the case with most Indians, I am obsessed with Folk tales and how they tie into our lives. The majestic state of Assam is home to some of the most innovative, outrageous, and immersive folk tales that one can dream of. Burhi Aiyor Xadhu (Grandmother’s Tales) by Sahitya Rathi Lakshminath Bezbarua is one of the most well-known and widely quoted collections of some of the best folk tales from the region. Through these stories, one not only gets an understanding of the region, the people and how they existed in the past, but also understands their beliefs and moral compasses.
While these tales feel fictional and outrageous, a closer look at them reveals the connection that the people had with nature, other creatures, and their own spiritual side. These stories also underline the sense and understanding of right and wrong of the people. There is very little in terms of grey in these stories and the clear demarcation of right and wrong, good and evil, black and white points to the straightforward thinking of the people of the region — something that is still a defining factor of the Assamese people.
I recently finished reading Dr. Kynpham Singh Nongkynrih’s Around the Hearth: Khasi Legends, a collection of Khasi folk tales, and quickly realized that I was obsessed with it. I took to re-reading the book almost immediately after I finished reading it the first time. The stories range from tales that chronicle the formation of the different Khasi tribes and how the people came to be to stories that explained some of the more common phenomena of our existence through stories of their genies based on the Khasi legends. Contrary to the folk tales of Assam, the folk tales of the Khasi people are a lot more about their religion, Gods, beliefs, rituals, tragedies, and genesis of values and practices that survive even to this day. The best stories are, however, the tragedies that not only teach us about some of the most human attributes of our existence but also remind us of what unspeakable horror and tragedy humans are capable of causing.
This book was an eye-opener for me for innumerable reasons. I had little to no idea about the Khasi religion and culture and believed that Khasis were predominantly Christians. It is after reading this book that I now know that the Khasi religion is not only extensive and expansive but also one that is extremely close and intimate with nature and everything in it. As Dr. Kynpham writes, most Khasi legends begin with “When man and beasts and stones and trees spoke as one …” signifying the Khasi culture’s utmost respect and love for everything that makes up our existence and also the fact that the culture inherently believed in coexistence and the importance of one another to not only survive but to have a meaningful and enriching existence.
One of my favorite stories of the entire collection is one wherein a Khasi and a Dkhar (people of the plain living near the borders of the Khasi territories – now Assam and parts of Bangladesh) are summoned by God, U Blei to receive his divine teachings and carry it back to their respective people. U Blei instructed the two men and they jotted down all his teachings in documents. When they were making their way back to their respective people, the duo faced a raging river in their path. The Dkhar, being of plains, knew how to negate the raging river and swiftly swam across it. The Khasi being from the hills was not accustomed to the river but in his excitement to bring the teachings of U Blei to his people and be their hero, took a rash decision to swim across the river with the document clasped between his teeth.
Within moments, he was petrified to realize that not only was he drowning but had also gulped water that had emulsified the documents clasped between his teeth. U Blei’s teachings were gone. He darted back to the mountain, but U Blei was nowhere to be found. Disillusioned and ashamed he somehow got back to his people and told them what had transpired.
The people were furious but thankfully he remembered the basic tenets of U Blei’s teachings and informed his people that he remembered them well enough to relate them as stories. Thus began the practice of explaining religious and cultural concepts through storytelling. As was the case with the Hindu religion, for a very long time, the Khasi religion was handed down from one generation to another through stories and legends. It is because of this reason that Khasi culture and practices are fairly simplistic in nature.
There are at least two tragedies that are extremely important in understanding the value system of the Khasi people, as these stories not only speak of the evil nature of the action that individuals tend to take but also gets into details of the aftermaths of these actions and how they impact both the individual at the receiving end of the action as well as the one who has committed it.
The most profound of these tragedies was the story of Ka Likai, a woman of virtue and beauty who was struggling to make ends meet after the death of her first husband. Even in all her pains and sufferings, she had the comfort of having her daughter from her first husband in her arms. After a day’s back-breaking hard work, she would find solace and happiness in the simple and radiant smile of her daughter.
However, destiny had other plans for her. On persistent persuasion of her neighbours and thinking about her daughter’s wellbeing, Ka Likai gave in to the advances of a man who was a competitor to her departed husband for her love. Ka Likai thought of this to be a new beginning when it turned out to be the beginning of the end.
The despicable beast of man showed his true nature after marriage and proved to be a monster physically abusing Ka Likai’s infant child and proving to be an additional burden on her instead of taking care of the mother and daughter as he had promised before marriage. The Horrors of Likai knew no bounds when the same man who she married to be her husband and protector disembowelled her child, cooked her in a curry, and left it for a hungry Likai to devour without knowing that she in fact eating her own flesh.
How Dr. Kynpham puts this legend to words using dialogue, narration and the final expression of the tragedy was shattering. Numerous references to real and existing places and how the story is interwoven with these places not only make it that much more tragic but permanently add a sense of melancholia to these places. The Nohkalikai Falls in Sohra will never be the same for me again. Through the aftermath of this tragedy, Dr. Kynpham documents how man then (as now) was able to reap some benefit out of the situation no matter how inhuman it might have been.
Interestingly, the Khasi Legends are not all about divine teachings and heart-wrenching tragedies. There is ample comedy, too, even though it is wrapped in a subtle sense of horror. The story about the malicious and dark entity that suffers from an irrepressible itch that can be soothed only when humans scratch it, made me roll with laughter even though it was not funny in the usual sense. This entity would tickle you to death if you stopped scratching after it had taken control over you. I drew a parallel of this malicious spirit with someone in my family who seems to have a similar itch and needs industrial equipment to keep himself adequately scratched. I did advise him to take care of his actions when in Meghalaya or in the company of a Khasi lest they take him for an evil entity from their legends.
Dr. Kynpham Singh Nongkynrih’s Around the Hearth: Khasi Legends is a must-read for anyone interested in folk tales of India. Rich in culture and complete with fantastical accounts, the book proves to be a window into the Khasi culture, beliefs, practices, and way of life like no other book that I have read before. The fact that it is such a breezy and immersive read ensures that we remember these stories, places, people, and even the names that are not very easy for someone like me to remember and pronounce. I have been quoting Khasi legends ever since I read the book and I realized that the lessons and the experiences from the legends are curiously just as relevant today as they might have been ages back. For all this and more, Around the Hearth: Khasi Legends is a must-read for every Indian and especially everyone from the Northeast.
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